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During your FCC bust you stated that the FCC agents recommended using a certified transmitter like a Procastser or Rangemaster. What has changed since your FCC Epiphany? You are now touting an non-certified stereo transmitter that for all practical arguments one cannot determine the power input/output. If the FCC shows up again, what will your recourse be? Also, did you build this kit?
A very good point, but I have a question also…..how is the Sean Cuthbert transmitter any different than the SStran as IT wasn’t certified, sold in a kit and only the manufacturer’s word, that it was compliant?
I do agree that another visit may not be good as the FCC can’t bring a tech on location to see if you really have 100mW into the final. They could say you can’t use it.
That’s why here in Canada everything must be certified as that’s what they go by to determine an approved 3rd party has checked to see that the manufacturers claims are true. Even if you build it yourself.
You are actually allowed up to 5 homebuilt (not kit) transmitters in Canada.
The Whole Truth Magazine
Mark thinks: “…the SStran … wasn’t certified, sold in a kit and only the manufacturer’s word that it was compliant…”
Depends.
The SSTran AMT3000 was not easy to verify regarding the 100mW but the AMT5000 was exceptionally easy to adjust for exactly 100mW.
The AMT5000 has Test Points where Voltage and current can be measured with a standard Voltmeter and ordinary calculation used to determine power level.
The total power range of AMT5000 is 36mW to 360mW.
That’s interesting what Artisan said about 5-homebuilts allowed in Canada… it’s the same with FCC which allows 5-homebuilt transmitters. I would go so far as to believe that means “five of a kind…” which would mean that you can make 5 more of another kind (different design, FM and AM) and legally have hundreds of home built transmitters.
In OET 63 and remember oet stands for office of engineering and Technology. Anyways according to the bulletin you are allowed to make kits so long as they have good engineering practices.
I myself did not build the kit but rather a broadcast engineer did. He has checked with a spectrum analyzer to make sure that the transmitter is clean. Also do note that this Sean Cuthbert transmitter is also adjustable as he has instructions with his kit 4 part 15 Section 219 compliance. That is 100 milliwatts into the final output of the transmitter.
For the 400 watt version certain parts must be jumped and certain things must be changed for the export power level in which is not allowed in the United States. His newer transmitter which is version 3 does not even mention the 400 watt output power so that version is what is now being sold in the United States.
The reason it was not certified was because it cost money to do that and Sean Cuthbert did not sell it as a fully assembled unit. At one time it was but due to the radio sheriff on the other site he has continue doing this but he does have the oscilloscope readings available if anyone needs to prove anything to the FCC that they are Within part 15 compliance.
Being the fact that my transmitter was constructed by a broadcast engineer and set up by a broadcast engineer I can assure you he is not going to jeopardize losing his technician license to work on a commercial station by doing anything remotely illegal either deliberately or otherwise trying to skirt around part 15 rules.
Range can be improved by different types of material that you use for an antenna for example using aluminum as opposed to stainless steel or copper or brass as they have better conductivity than that of a stainless steel antenna or one that is coated with stainless steel such as some of the CB whips that are sold today. Little do most people know you can buy an aluminum CD whip and that will increase your range.
The gauge of ground wire and the gauge of wire that you might use for an antenna also makes a difference also you must pay close attention to what the impedance is for your transmitter. My broadcast engineer friend knows what the impedance is and we try to keep a perfect match to that transmitter that is why I’m able to get a fairly decent range.
Those of you who are concerned about interference and harmonics you need to look at what the talking house transmitter actually does. If you could see what it does on a spectrum analyzer trust me you would never want to run one of those ever again. Not to mention that Robert my broadcast engineer has found several harmonics with that talking house transmitter within the shortwave band particularly around 3400 kilohertz. The bad thing about this is that the harmonics was barely under the fundamental frequency and I am sure this is part of the reason that some ham operators may have got kicked off at certain people operating a talking house transmitter so much as to go out and smash their equipment why? Because they’re causing harmful interference I don’t agree that that was the best way to handle the situation but again that’s why.
Some of the other kit transmitter’s 4 a.m. that you have mentioned also has better filtration than that of the talking house. If I were to compare the talking house and the Sean Cuthbert transmitter I would say that the talking house transmitter is almost as equivalent as a cze Chinese FM transmitter compared with a decade ms100. That is how clean the Sean Cuthbert transmitter is you need to really look up the specifications on that transmitter. If you operate the transmitter Within part 15 rules and don’t try to crank the power up to 400 milliwatts or more or do something mischievious you shouldn’t have any problems with the Sean Cuthbert transmitter. You still have to watch your modulation a little bit because you really don’t want to overdrive any transmitter to where it could distort and cause issues this is where my broadcast engineer friend has check to make sure that’s not the case. I do owe a lot to him for setting this up and allowing me to broadcast in c-quam AM stereo which is not illegal to do so because commercial stations like the one in Ionia Michigan still broadcast and c-quam AM stereo.
As for the laws in Canada pertaining to whether or not you were allowed kits I would not no Canadian law I would check with industry Canada to see what they say about kits. I can’t imagine that they would be illegal to use but then again Canada does have different laws than we do for example there are allowed more power on FM and we’re not allowed that type of power on FM Plus they have that one watt license which we do not have as of yet.
I know that there are some people that would like to take my station down at any chance they can get but trust me I am following the rules 100% this time there is no if ands or buts but let me know also make this clear I am working with others to start a new service called a general Broadcasting Service in which could change all of this. Anyone wishing to help can check out our website and if we see that you really want to help with the petition we may Grant you the elite access which then you will see what’s going on. And once again we are eliminating a lot of the FM talk including the talk in the elite section as FM is not workable in the United States at this time and we are not promoting FM use.
I hope that this clears up any rumors or concerns of miss you of the am broadcast band by anyone here at The Legacy.
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